I came across some more lost files I used in determining tasks, correctness, era, etc.. I figured they may possibly help someone else out someday.

When I was building my rear wheel assembly and about to mount the brake drum, I realized the OEM #4026-35 wheel lugs were the later type. This made them incorrect for my WLA year. I mentioned earlier in this topic where I scored the correct ones. Anyhow, later wheel lugs are smooth around the diameter of the hex drive end. Earlier are as the one shown below. Both earlier and later wheel lugs share the same part number. Note the groove around the area I mentioned.

Also correct for my WLA year is the #4026-35OS wheel lug shown below. This is an oversize wheel lug used when standard size wheel lug threads have either been stripped out, or damaged from running them loose. I forget the thread size of this oversize wheel lug. Though I had enough of them on hand at the time, I did not need to use them and I had the Ole Lady sell them. Luckily the threads were good in my OEM brake drum. I can tell you this though. The oversize wheel lug threads are huge in comparison to standard wheel lug threads.

Since I also ran across the files below, which I do not believe I used in my WLA transmission build topic, maybe someone out there can use them as well. You folks already know how I take measurements on just about everything. Well…..when I was getting ready to install an NOS #2518-41 clutch gear bearing race into my OEM transmission case, I took measurements of the NOS bearing race and drew up a couple of drawings of the it. The data on the drawings was helpful in determining clearances in my transmission. The data may also help someone who is rebuilding their transmission by providing guidelines of when a clutch gear bearing race is worn out and needs replaced The drawings do not indicate the type of steel used. No doubt a high carbon steel was used so it could be hardened before finish grinding to specifications. Maybe some of you have the means to make your own ?

Earlier I related my experience in restoring my front and rear WLA mudguards. I ran across the following files I created when preparing the mudguard restorations. I knew I would be replacing the mounting braces on both mudguards. I acquired NOS braces for both mudguards. I also acquired all NOS rivets. Parts books don’t make it easy to know where some of the rivets are used on mudguards so I made up my own data drawing by scanning and editing a parts book illustration. See this drawing below.

Since I had all the NOS rivets I would be using on hand, I went ahead and made up dimension drawings on them as well. The rivet drawings are not to scale because I used the same drawing for all the rivet part numbers. See rivet drawings below.

The file below was a blessing for me when I was baffled on how the chain oiler pipe mounted. The file is an illustration. I’ve only seen an illustration such as this in only one publication. I forget what publication I found it in. What baffled me about the chain oiler pipe mounting was where did that clamp in the center mount ? The illustration is accurate as to where that clamp should be on the chain oiler pipe tubing. My guess of where it would mount was right but I ahead and verified it with several WLA and WL owner members of this forum just to be certain. The clamp may look like the end clamp on the chain oiler pipe tubing but they are different. Hole sizes are not the same and I have yet to find a part number for it. I assume there may not even be a part number for it because my NOS chain oiler pipe came with it already assembled to the chain oiler pipe tubing. The clamp will slide either way on the tubing but it will not slide off of the tubing due to the factory bending for the routing and factory installed fitting for the scavenger oil pump.

Awesome John !! And so appropriate this day !! Super nice bike ! I really love the background theme and the Stars & Stripes dressing and surrounding the bike !! I wanted so much to roll mine out to the front lawn this year but I missed the time frame to do so. Your pic gave me inspiration for next 4th of July. Thank you !!!! Pa

Toms NOS parts has the larger holed clip for the chain oiler, 3/8, #3580-41 for the kicker spring stud mounting, the number is 3574-41a for the smaller 5/16 chain guard mount clip and I haven't located that one yet.

fenderguitarleo wrote:Toms NOS parts has the larger holed clip for the chain oiler, 3/8, #3580-41 for the kicker spring stud mounting, the number is 3574-41a for the smaller 5/16 chain guard mount clip and I haven't located that one yet.

I just went back to my wla trans build topic to see if I had noted the 5/16" hole clip. I noted it as 3574-41B, I think, on page 6. I don't remember if I was told the part number by someone, found it myself in a particular parts book, or just plain made an error.

Pa; got a few guys building and/or sourcing 45 rebuilds in our club (Harley-Davidson Riders Club of Great Britain) at the moment. Not, I have to confess, to your exacting standards of detailed perfection, nevertheless this thread may be of great benefit to them, and also to myself.

Would you be OK with me posting a link to this thread on our own website?

I’ve not yet made a final decision on all the identification markings I will place on my WLA. But I learned a lot while trying to finalize that markings decision. Here is just one example of what I learned which could be a factor in making a final markings decision. Referencing the WLA luggage rack…..it was originally designed to accommodate a radio transmitter receiver. That radio transmitter receiver was the SCR-510, also identified as the BC-620 radio transmitter receiver shown below.

The radio transmitter receiver also sported a fitted cover and mounting plate bracket. The mounting plate bracket was designed to mount to the WLA luggage rack. The mounting plate bracket has slots which line up with the slots in the WLA luggage rack. The mounting plate bracket is also shock resistant to remove the impact vibrations from the WLA rigid frame. See pic below. Though parts books call the WLA luggage rack a luggage rack, a few military service manuals call it a radio carrier.

Sorry for the small pic. That is all I had. The bottom of the mounting plate bracket is also not shown. There is about another 3/8” of plate not showing in the pic. You can also see the slots at the bottom of the pic that line up with the WLA luggage rack slots.

Publications concerning the WLA model types claim the radio transmitter receiver was never used on the WLA’s as the luggage rack was originally designed for. They also claim it was the military who decided not to use the WLA’s in this manner. I believe deciding not to use and equip WLA’s with radios is true but I also believe this, not to equip decision by the military, came after several WLA’s had already been equipped with radios. The 1941 WLA show below severed in England. The pic was taken in 1942.

Further more…..I also believe the military eventually decided a radio transmitter equipped WLA would be very useful in certain operations in Europe and the Pacific late in the war. Radio transmitters evolved during WWII with upgrades in communications. The WLA shown below served in the Pacific. I personally held dialog with the owner of this WLA and he stated the bike was restored as found. Note how the military mounted a later type radio transmitter receiver to the springer instead of the luggage rack.

The pic below looks to be a U.S. Navy SP [ Shore Patrol} WLA with a luggage rack mounted radio transmitter receiver. Shore Patrol was the Navy’s version of the Army’s MP [ Military Police ].

Rich C wrote:I am so loving this! I will post some pictures of my very slow WLA project soon.

I can't wait to see those pictures !! My WLA has been a very long build and it isn't quite over yet. I've collected parts for more than two decades just to be half way ready when I started my build. I inventoried every single part by part number and number of parts. I researched, purchased dozens of parts books and service manuals, and I spent years studying other WLA types and models in preparation for the actual return of my civilianized WLA to its military glory. The toughest part of the time span was to remain focused. I learned patience was a true virtue. I found related documentation, not published in books, in that long span of time. During the years of collecting parts and published materials, I also learned not to search in only motorcycle related areas of knowledge. To present date...... I believe the searching of information and parts collecting have been my greatest rewards thus far. But as I said, my WLA is not yet completed. So very close to completion but close is only good in Horse shoes.

Going hand in hand with the information, illustrations, and pics I’ve posted in this topic, below is an illustration which is very useful in determining which oil lines go where, routing to the oil tank and to the engine. All 45 WLA WLC WL G and GE model Harley Davidson builders and restorers may find the illustration helpful. Since my memory is always short lived, I find it useful each time I work with 45 models as well. I always tag my parts to eliminate confusion when I need them. With parts identification already out of the way, it is much easier to use an illustration such as this one, rather than rely on a memory such as mine, to use for installing oil lines, than it is to turn page after page after page of a service manual, in order to know where they go.

Got my oem outer primary cover finished and mounted. The cover was beaten up pretty seriously. Someone in the past had made an attempt to repair it but they did not think it through when they tried. No doubt all they were looking to do was make it usable without worrying about its appearance. In the past, the cover looks to have sustained serious road rash, crushing the complete bottom edge up against the first step in the clutch tower and splitting open from the forward inspection hole cover back to the rear radius of the cover itself. The lower rib was also most non-existent. The person who attempted to make repairs did not try to straighten it back out but instead welded up the complete split. I’m guessing when he found out the cover would not fit over the clutch assembly before hitting the end of the clutch assembly , nor line up with inner primary cover, or clear the lower length of the primary drive chain, he decided to unload it on someone else. Eventually I ended up with the cover. I knew I could not restore the shape to the cover without cutting out all the weld that person put into it. By the time I got all the weld cut out, I had a huge opening almost the full length of the cover on the bottom side. I began next to utilize my press and torch, with makeshift pressing dies to smash the road rash area creases out of the cover. I needed to restore the radius’s to the first two steps of the clutch tower and to the outside bottom edge of the cover itself. I turned dies with the correct radius’s and worked the dies along the path of damaged radius’s, while still utilizing the press and the torch. I worked the sheet metal all over dozens of times before I got the cover back into shape. The shaping work took me several weeks to accomplish. I found it very difficult to stay at it more than 4-5 hours at a time, thus the several weeks of going at it. Now that I had the cover back in shape, I needed to fill the wide open split void. I had some sheet metal the exact gauge of the cover on hand so I cut me out what I needed, made another die to press the missing area of the lower rib back in, and then trimmed it to fit the spit opening with a good snug fit. I then welded it in and ground the welds down flush with the cover surfaces. After another intense inspection in measurements and a mockup on the bike, I finished up the cosmetics, painted it, and installed it.

Restored my left and right oem footboards and installed them. They were really rough when I started working on them. Both footboard mounting brackets had been bolted on with flat washers to fill the voids where the original rivets pulled out of the footboards. I removed the bolted in mounting brackets, welded in the oversize holes for mounting bracket rivets, re-drilled for the mounting bracket rivets, and riveted on NOS mounting brackets using NOS rivets. I attempted to parkerize the footboards but the weld did not parkerize uniformly. To hide the newly parkerize un-uniform finish, I panted the footboards flat black. I know flat black paint is not correct for my early 42WLA type III bike but that was the only way I could match a parkerized finish on them until I find a pair of oem footboards that are in super good condition. My footboards are NOS. They were packaged later in the war and were painted black. Black paint is correct for later 42WLA models but not correct for my bike. I stripped the black paint from them and parkerized them. The sheet metal they are made from will not darken well when parkerized but I really like the look they finished out at. All mounting studs to sidebars, and all hardware, are NOS.

I mounted my oem 1942 trenching shovel and oem 1942 trenching shovel cover , using my NOS 1942 trenching shovel tie down straps. Not seen is the cover is dated 1942 on the back side. You can see the rifle scabbard tie off loop I hand made to replace the missing rifle scabbard tie off loop. You can also see the age of all the shovel handles by the grain shrinkage in the hardwood.

Looks great! My scabbard is also missing the brass mounting strap- did you make it out of 3/16 brass rod? I have a friend here who is a super blacksmith but I don't know what size rod to start with. If anyone can measure an original one that would be great- but no hurry I am at least a year out! I still need to find tranny gears and flywheels- Doug at Santa Cruz shipped my cases today!